One More Try
by LadyV77
Summary: What if Trance had sucked Alura into the Seefra System as well? A Season Five spin on my Alura Anasazi series. Complete oneshot.


**Summary:** What if Trance had sucked Alura into the Seefra system as well? A Season Five spin off of my Alura Anasazi series. Complete one-shot.

**Author's Note:** _Italics_ signify thought or emphasis. This branches off my fic "Arkology Revisited" (from Chapter 5) if from that point in the story everything from the end of Season 4 and the first several episodes of Season 5 happened the way they did in the show (which it won't in AR). The prologue starts during the Season 4 finale, and the rest of the story takes place just prior to, during and after 'Moonlight Becomes You', so there will be spoilers of sorts for that episode. Also expect spoilers for my stories "Child of the Sun" and "Arkology Revisited".

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**Prologue…**

_I wish I could see you once again, my daughter. This couldn't have been what you sacrificed your happiness for. She wasn't what he needed, she was just a replacement for you. I told you once about this last ditch effort to stop the Magog, but I never really believed I'd be using it. But they're all gone, all but Dylan. And soon even he will be gone, no longer a part of the universe he was trying so hard to save. If now isn't the time to do this, than it never will be. If only you were here. If only I had made you stay. We will meet again, Alura, and when we do, we will find a way to fix things... together._

Alura sat straight up in bed, her breathing accelerated. Beside her, Achilles sat up as well, wiping the sleep from his eyes.

"What is it, baby?" he asked gently. "Another dream of the Abyss?"

Alura shook her head, "No, I… I heard my mother."

Achilles frowned and turned on the light. He made sure she was comfortable; plumping another pillow behind her back so the extra weight she now carried had balance. She smiled her thanks as he did so, always grateful for the little things he did for her each day.

"Alura, baby," he began gently, wrapping an arm around her and rubbing her arm soothingly, "it's been almost six months since you left the Andromeda. And your mother destroyed the world ship more than a month ago. You couldn't have heard her. It was just a dream, baby."

"No, it wasn't, she…"

Alura was interrupted by Danny's sudden appearance in the bedroom.

"Commodore," he started, but his holograph flickered several times, distorting whatever it was he was trying to report. "Reading… massive… pulling us..."

"I think we'd better get to command," Achilles said when Danny disappeared permanently.

The blonde Nietzschean jumped out of the bed, pulling a pair of pants on as he came around to Alura's side to help her onto her feet. Achilles grabbed a simple dress from the closet and helped her into it; they didn't have time for her to put on her usual pants and shirt ensemble. As soon as the dress was on, they both moved quickly, barefoot, through the halls of the Dance Among the Stars to the command deck.

"Oh, no," Alura breathed when she saw the screen.

They were being pulled into a massive tesseract, and because Danny had disappeared, she knew it was already affecting the Dance. A horrible creaking sound shuddered through the ship and Alura practically flew to one of the diagnostic screens.

"It's not the right size to take the ship as a whole," she said with dread lacing her every word. "My mother must have sent it after me, expecting me to be on Tarazed where it could just pick up just me. My distance from Arkology must have made it take as long as it has to find me."

"What are we going to do?" Achilles asked.

"There's nothing we _can_ do. We're already too close to it, the Dance can't pull away."

Alura walked into Achilles' arms and wrapped her own around his waist. Her second husband kissed the top of her head lightly, causing her to look up at him. He stared at her solemnly, tracing her features with his eyes and fingertips, as if he was memorizing her. He leaned his head down and gave her a passionate kiss that she suddenly knew would be their last.

He didn't step away from her or move in any way, but within seconds she was unable to touch him, her hand sweeping right through his arm, his shoulder, his face.

"I love you," he told her softly. "This is the only way to get you to them safely. Just promise me you won't make the same mistake with Rhade twice... hold onto him as long as you can."

"I promise," she replied, trying not to choke on her tears. "I love you, Achilles."

He smiled and became nothing more than Light, surrounding her and what she could see of the Dance with his love, his strength and all of his life force. The Light dissipated, Alura barely noticing the glow that stayed on every surface of the Dance Among the Stars but strongest on her. She fell to her knees as the tears finally fell from her eyes.

"Goodbye, Achilles," she sobbed.

_I'll always be with you, baby,_ Achilles' voice comforted her as the brightness of the tesseract event became the darkness of unconsciousness.

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**One More Try**

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"Is the father like us?" Ione asked her one night after she had been held prisoner for a month.

Alura rested one hand on her swollen belly and shook her head. It was the first time Ione had spoken to her. The Dance Among the Stars had crash-landed on a barren planet and Alura had stumbled out, trying to find anyone that could help her. She had walked through the desert for two days before fainting. When she had woken up, she discovered that she had been found and sold to a circus run by a woman named Geryon.

Geryon encouraged Ione to stay away from 'the prisoner'. Alura had no idea what lie Geryon had told the other Avatar to hold off his curiosity as long as she had, but Alura knew Ione was slightly afraid of her. Though how anyone could be afraid of a woman seven months pregnant with twins and stuck behind a force field, she didn't understand.

Alura hated the fact that she was a slave again, but at least Geryon didn't beat her. She was only kept locked up constantly. She knew that if she phased to energy form, she would get free, but it would mean the death of her children and most likely the end of her own corporeal state. She wasn't willing to do that yet. Aside from the fact that she would never hurt her children, she had a promise to keep.

"_I'm_ not even like you completely," she said softly when Ione continued to stare at her with his lost-little-boy face. Alura lifted her arms so he could easily see her bone blades as she explained. "I'm half Nietzschean. The babies' father is full Nietzschean. An enhanced human with bone blades like mine."

"I've never seen _anyone_ else like you, not on any of the planets the circus has been to in the Seefra system."

Ione's frown deepened after he made his remark. His stare seemed to shift from her bone blades to him looking right through her.

Alura smirked, "Doubting that I truly am a 'sun god' as Geryon calls you?"

Ione shook his head and sunk down to sit Indian style on the other side of the force field from her. Alura wondered for a moment why his markings were so much more pronounced than hers or Trance's, but she shrugged it off. She did not know as much about the Avatar race as she should. Maybe each individual chose his or her own look. She supposed there could even be Avatars who appeared completely human.

"No," Ione said aloud. "Just trying to understand why she has to keep you locked up. Don't you _want_ to be protected? The people are kind when they come into the circus, but even here they judge me, stare at the freak. It is much worse out there on your own."

"Maybe," Alura allowed. "But I'm tougher than I look, and stuck in here is no life for me or my children. And if there is any chance to find their father in this Divine-forsaken system, I will find a way someday."

"What's he like?" Ione asked suddenly.

Alura smiled. "Would you like to see?"

Ione nodded and moved closer when she motioned for him to do so. Alura got up from the platform that served as her bed and the only seat in her cell and moved as close as she dared to the force field that kept her locked in. She raised her hands to chest level, cupping them as if to hold water. Drawing strength from the power Achilles had given her when he sacrificed himself for her, Alura conjured an image of Telemachus as he had been the last time she had seen him happy.

Ione smiled at the image as Telemachus picked Drago up by the wrists and spun in a circle, making the boy feel like he was flying. Alura smiled as well, hoping her son was still safe and happy with Valhalla Pride back in his own universe where he belonged.

"Enough magic tricks," Geryon said as she came out of a shadowed corner of the room.

Alura stopped smiling and let the vision of Telemachus dissipate. Geryon turned to Ione and smiled gently. Alura's intuition told her there was no real affection behind the gesture and her empathic ability backed it up, but she didn't have the heart to tell Ione that the one person he believed loved him was just using him. Ione wasn't a warrior. Even if he did believe her and wanted to help, he wouldn't be able to aid her in escaping, nor would he survive long on his own when he couldn't remember who and what he was.

"Ione, love, you should rest before your show tonight," Geryon said gently.

"Of course, you're right."

Alura waited silently as Geryon watched Ione until the other Avatar was out of the room. When he was gone, Geryon spun around to glare at her. Alura wondered what Geryon was. The woman with odd, painted-on eyebrows had some kind of thrall over Ione and got rid of anything she thought might distract Ione from her and the circus show he performed in. Geryon took a step toward the force field and Alura calmly moved to sit back down.

"You will be a part of the show once your children are born, or I will sell them to the highest bidder," Geryon threatened, not for the first time. "And if you speak to Ione again, I will kill you."

_That_ threat was new. Geryon wasn't one to waste an opportunity to make more money or let an investment go without a payoff, which was how she would undoubtedly think of the current situation, having kept Alura fed for a month and not having gotten anything in return yet.

There must be even more to Ione than Alura could see.

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Four days after Ione had dared to speak to her, Geryon once again visited Alura.

"I asked around about the man you claim fathered your children," the ringmaster informed Alura as she approached Alura's cell. "I'm sure you'll be happy to know that he's safe and sound on Seefra-1."

Alura watched in confusion as Geryon put the force field on the setting the guards used to pass Alura's food into her cell three times a day. Geryon pushed a vid player through the opening before putting the field back on full shield mode. Alura carefully stooped to pick up the device and pressed the button that would start the files on it.

She gasped when she saw Telemachus, his hair longer, his facial hair more of a full beard and his clothing much more casual than the last time she had seen him. A soft sound of despair passed her lips as she watched him drink in scene after scene that were obviously from different days. In most, he left the bar or club he was in with a woman, a different one each time.

When the video ended, she looked up at Geryon.

"You see," the woman said. "He's moved on. He doesn't want you. You belong here with Ione and I."

Alura's shoulders slumped and she sat down on her bed, leaning heavily against the wall. Geryon left to let Alura think about what she had learned. When she was sure Geryon had left, Alura smiled, placing a hand over her belly as one of the twins kicked.

Yes, despair had struck when she had seen what Telemachus' life had become. But it wasn't for the reasons Geryon thought. It wasn't because of the women and booze he seemed to have thrown himself whole-heartedly into. Alura could feel Telemachus' pain, his desire to drown out the ghost of what he couldn't remember. It was her fault that Trance had taken that from him, and she was now more determined than ever to find him and see if he could forgive her.

What Geryon didn't know could only help Alura.

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How did he get into these messes? With as long as he had known Beka and Harper, one would think Telemachus Rhade knew better than to go along with them on one of their treasure hunts. But really, there was only so much he could do on Seefra and it was a bit too early in the day for drinking himself into a stupor before falling into bed with the first willing female. So he had let his curiosity and desire for any kind of excitement to keep his mind off his phantom woman take precedence over his better judgment.

Look where that had gotten him. Trapped in some strange, empty chamber emitting awful smelling gas with Beka Valentine, the smug, arrogant, self-absorbed captain of the Eureka Maru. Telemachus snorted. The entire former crew of the Andromeda Ascendant should each have known from the day they met her that she was somehow Nietzschean. But even though it made a lot of sense now, Telemachus _was_ still getting used to the fact that the infuriating woman was the female Progenitor. That and the fact that he actually had to take orders from her, whether he liked it or not.

Pacing a few steps in front of the door neither one of them could get to re-open, Telemachus wondered if anyone knew how far gone he really was. Maybe he had recognized the danger inherent in one of Beka and Harper's schemes and had chosen to participate anyway. The thought that it might lead to his demise was almost pleasant.

No more scheming Harper, amused Beka, or righteous Dylan… no more phantom woman haunting every moment of every day. And no more of this strange anger he felt towards Trance. At first, he had thought his loathing of the amnesiac Avatar had to do with her getting him stuck in the Seefran System instead of letting him die with Louisa on Arkology. But lately he thought there might be something more to it. Something much more important, something in connection with his phantom woman. Telemachus growled at the thought. If only he could remember what it was.

He was tired. Tired of trying to find a way out of this system. Tired of dealing with all of the messes his 'friends' got themselves into. Tired of having to participate every time Dylan got it in his head to save everyone but them. Tired of trying to remember and trying to forget all at once.

But as much as he wished the phantom woman with blue hair and eyes would stop haunting him, he knew he couldn't let her go. And it was driving him crazy.

Beka drew his attention to the pictographs that had suddenly appeared on one of the walls in the cave-like chamber. Trance was in a rather erotic embrace with a man who was obviously another Avatar. Telemachus and Beka stared for several minutes, though he was sure Beka's reason was different than his own.

The image of Trance had her back slightly turned toward them, a small tattoo of a sun visible on the back of her left shoulder. Telemachus felt the air leave his lungs but did not drawn any back in. A memory crept into his mind's eye. He had traced a very similar tattoo with his tongue once. Only it had not been on Trance, or even on someone's back.

It was darker in color, shades of blue, and it was exactly three finger widths above an innie belly button. Alura's belly button.

Alura Anasazi.

A passionate, exotically beautiful woman who was naturally colored various shades of silver and blue.

Half Avatar, half Nietzschean.

Daughter of Trance Gemini and Tyr Anasazi.

Adoptive mother of Drago Tamerlane Anasazi, the genetic reincarnation of Drago Museveni.

Beloved wife of Telemachus Rhade.

With a start, Telemachus breathed in, his nervous and respiratory systems once more taking over the automatic responses and needs of his body. He sank down onto the floor, no longer paying any attention to Beka or the odd room they were trapped in as several months' worth of memories played through his mind.

_She left me._

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"What's up with Rhade?" Harper asked Beka.

He had come down to Seefra-1 to pick up a part he needed for the array he was designing to protect the Seefran system from Trance's sun and buy them some time to figure out how to save everyone. Beka was leaning against the bar with a drink in her hand, and Harper had caught her frowning across the room at her 'descendant'. Rhade was sitting in a chair in a dark corner, alone for once. He was staring at a drink on the table in front of him.

"He's been like that since we got out of that chamber," Beka answered.

"I hate to be the one to break it to you, Beka," Harper commented sarcastically, "but your great-great-great-great-grandson's been like that ever since we came to Seefra. He may have said he was going to stop drinking, but he hasn't."

Beka reached across the bar to smack Harper on the side of his head. He wasn't sure if it was for his sarcasm or the crack about she and Rhade being related.

"Ow."

Beka ignored Harper's sound of pain. "Actually, I mean he hasn't moved from that spot for three whole days, and the drink in front of him hasn't moved either."

Harper frowned. "Really?"

Beka nodded.

"Before, it was like he was rebelling against everything he was, but deep inside he was still _him_. He still rode to the rescue when Dylan or any of the rest of us needed him to. Now…" Beka shrugged. "I think he's given up, and just when we might find a way out of here."

They both stared at Telemachus. Normally the Nietzschean would have felt people staring at him, looked up and given them a dirty look, if not a rude gesture to go along with it. But he didn't move.

"I just thought of something," Beka suddenly said. She lowered her voice to a whisper. "Alura and Drago were descended from me as well."

Harper nodded slowly, trying not to think about what Alura would think of what had become of all of them. He reached under the bar and poured a fresh glass of a drink he knew Telemachus liked, one of the most expensive the bar offered. When he came out from behind the bar with the drink in his hand, Beka asked him what he was doing.

"I'm going to offer him a fresh drink," Harper said. "Sometimes all it takes is a little prodding and a friendly ear."

Telemachus was very aware of Beka and Harper staring at him. And he was sure they were talking about him. He simply didn't care. He didn't think even the obedience that had been bred into him at a genetic level would make him react to Beka right now. He growled to himself when Harper made his way over.

"Thought you might like a fresh glass," Harper remarked as he replaced the glass Telemachus had honestly forgotten was sitting on the table in front of him.

Telemachus grunted. Harper didn't take the hint and continued to stand there. Hoping to make the engineer leave him to his misery, Telemachus lifted the new glass.

"To my wife, I hope she's happy wherever she is."

Harper gasped sharply and spoke before Telemachus could take a sip. "You remember Alura?"

Telemachus was up and out of his seat, grasping Harper roughly by the arms, before either of them had taken another breath.

"What do you know?" he growled dangerously.

Harper tried for only a second to wriggle out of Telemachus' grasp before he gave up. "She asked Trance to make you forget about her because she had a Vision of you and Louisa together."

Telemachus seemed to collapse in on himself at Harper's words. He let go of Harper and sank back down on his chair.

"I never would have… if I had remembered her for even a moment…" Telemachus mumbled to himself.

Harper hesitated again, but when he spoke, Telemachus could have kissed him.

"I don't know where Alura is, but I know where the Dance is."

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Telemachus took his slipfighter (the one he had been using as a shuttle back and forth to the Andromeda) to Seefra-3. Harper had told him where to find the Dance, which Harper hadn't been able to get into when he had found it on a supply run three weeks before. According to Harper there had been no sign of Alura, but Telemachus knew if he could get inside and Danny was still in working order, the AI would be able to find her.

It took him several minutes to find the hatch and handle that Dylan had opened so long ago to let Alura out of the disabled Dance Among the Stars when Alura had first saved them from the Magog. When he stepped into the ship, he had to step back out again. The atmosphere wasn't breathable inside. Telemachus paced back and forth a few steps, sick with the worry that she had died trapped inside, before leaning his head into the doorway to shout repeatedly for Danny.

It took a few minutes, but Telemachus shook with relief when Danny flickered into existence just a few inches from the door. Inside the ship, Telemachus could hear the life support systems coming back on.

"Tell me she isn't in there," Telemachus demanded before the AI had even had a chance to say anything.

"She's not," Danny said quickly. "If you come inside and give me a few minutes for my sensors to kick back in, I may be able to tell you more."

Telemachus followed the holograph as Danny led him to a bedroom.

Danny took on a look of concentration and sighed happily, "She's alive, I can still read her, but I can't tell where she is. My sensors must have been damaged when we crashed."

Telemachus sank onto the room's unmade bed in relief.

"Where are we?" Danny asked after a few silent moments.

"In a pocket universe consisting of only one planetary system with two artificial suns and nine planets, Seefras one through nine. They used to be Tarn Vedra." Danny frowned deeply, but Telemachus pressed on. "Trance tessearacted us all here, but somehow we all got pulled through at different times. I've been here several months and Dylan only a few weeks, but Trance's been here for years. Harper and Beka are here too, as well as the Andromeda, though Rommie was destroyed and Harper built a new android And soon the whole system may be destroyed because Trance's sun is on it's way here a bit too fast." Telemachus took a breath and asked, "How long has Alura been in the Seefra System?"

"If my data is correct," Danny responded, "it's been a month since we were sucked into this system, and seven months total since we left the Andromeda. Oh, the Divine help us, she'll be due in less than two months."

"Due?" Telemachus echoed in a strangled voice.

Danny called up a surveillance shot of Alura on a screen on one wall of the bedroom. A very obviously pregnant Alura. Telemachus' heart threatened to pound right out of his chest.

"Congratulations, Commander, you're going to be the proud father of twin girls very soon."

"Twins," Telemachus breathed in disbelief.

Danny seemed to realize how much of a shock all of this was and gave Telemachus a few minutes to collect himself.

The hard light holograph picked up a photo out of a group on top of Alura's dresser and handed it to Telemachus. It was of the two of them together shortly after they had been mated. Telemachus smiled when he saw the photo, caressing the image of Alura with his finger.

"She never stopped loving you," Danny said quietly. "She just thought what she was doing was best for you. When she found out she was pregnant after we had already left, she knew she had to tell you but decided to wait until the twins were born so you would have time for your relationship with Louisa to be on solid footing."

Telemachus nodded and moved to the dresser, picking up the individual photos and studying them. Most of them were of Telemachus and Alura, or both or just one of them with Drago. Telemachus almost dropped the last frame he picked up. The photo in it showed Alura with Achilles Renier, the blonde Nietzschean's arm in a familiar embrace around Alura's swollen belly. Achilles was wearing a helix band, and so was Alura. Their helix bands matched.

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Danny noticed Telemachus staring at the photo of Achilles and Alura with a devastated look on his face.

"When Alura left the Andromeda," Danny began, "Achilles helped her, supported her without asking for anything in return. They became even closer than they had been, but they didn't mate until Alura knew you were about to meet up with the ambassador from Arkology and Louisa."

Danny told Telemachus about the month Alura had been married to the other man. Achilles had done everything he could to comfort Alura when news had reached them that the Andromeda and its crew had perished, promising her that he would raise Telemachus' children as his own. And when the tesseract that Trance had sent to pick up Alura threatened to destroy them, Achilles had sacrificed himself to save the Dance and Alura. When Danny told Telemachus about the promise Achilles had extracted from Alura in his last moments, Telemachus knew he could never begrudge her the time his wife had spent with another man.

He could only hope she would feel the same way about Louisa and the women he had been 'involved' with since.

When he was through with his telling of the time Alura had spent away from Telemachus, Danny asked, "Do you still love her?"

"There is _nothing_ I wouldn't do to have her back," Telemachus answered firmly. "I'll _always_ love her."

The AI smiled in response and Telemachus could hear the sounds of the Dance powering up.

"If you can fly me to Harper, I'm sure he can work on my sensors so that we can track her down."

Telemachus set the picture of Achilles and Alura back in it's spot. Danny opened the top drawer of the dresser and pulled out a helix band, holding it out to Telemachus.

Telemachus frowned and glanced at the picture of Alura and her second husband. "But Achilles…"

"She had a new one made for him. She wasn't replacing you with him, and she never would have given your band to someone else. She took it with her every time she went somewhere for any length of time."

Telemachus reverently took the band.

"You know," Danny observed, "when things fall apart so badly, most people don't get one more try to get it right."

"And I intend to take full advantage of the opportunity," Telemachus answered, snapping his helix band into place on his bicep where it belonged.

Together, AI and Nietzschean headed for command deck.

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Alura opened blurry eyes when she suddenly felt as if she wasn't alone in her cell. It had been nearly five days since the last time someone had come to check on her, and she didn't know how much longer she'd last without food and water. When she opened her eyes and looked toward the foot of her bed, Alura saw Ione standing there.

_Am I hallucinating now?_

"No, you're not," Ione answered her.

Alura was unsure whether or not she had asked the question out loud. In truth, she didn't care.

"What happened?" she asked the other Avatar.

Ione would know why Geryon and her flunkies hadn't been around lately.

"I was reunited with your mother and remembered everything about myself. Turns out I'm not a sun god after all."

"You're a moon Avatar, Tarn Vedra's moon."

The knowledge had flowed from him to her, along with the male's thoughts of everything that had gone before, including his love for Trance. Ione was free and Geryon was gone. And now she had the chance to fulfill her final promise to Achilles and to get back the life that she never should have left.

Ione nodded and moved to sit beside her on the bed. He passed his hands over her, and Alura gasped in relief as the pain, hunger and dehydration faded from her body. She sat up slowly and rubbed her hands over her belly. Ione stood and offered her a hand.

"Come on, we need to get you out of here."

"Are you taking me to my mother?" Alura asked.

Ione shook his head, "We can't be close to each other; we would tear Seefra apart. This is her time to be with Dylan. But I can take you to your friend Harper."

Alura smiled. She had missed Harper. She put her hand in Ione's and he tesseracted them to a dingy bar.

"Good luck," he said before tesseracting away.

A glass shattered behind her and Alura turned to find Harper staring at her from behind the bar counter, his mouth hanging open. One of his hands was empty and the other held a towel. Evidently he had been cleaning a glass when she had appeared out of nowhere.

Alura smiled and walked slowly to the bar. "Hello, Harper."

Harper snapped out of his shock-induced frozen state and scrambled over the bar, not bothering to go around where part of the counter lifted up so he could walk through. He immediately hugged Alura, and she hugged back. Harper pulled back after a few moments and looked her over.

"You're really here," he said. "And you're pregnant! When I found the Dance and couldn't get into it, I thought maybe you had died, and then when Rhade remembered and he found a way to get in and talked to Danny, we weren't sure we'd ever find you before the whole Seefra system went ka-plooey, and…"

"Where is he?" she asked urgently.

"Rhade's…" Harper stopped and looked over her shoulder, a smile blooming on his face. "He just walked in."

With her heart suddenly stuck in her throat, Alura turned slower than she would have liked in deference to the twins and their effect on her body. Telemachus was standing in the open doorway of the building, evidently having frozen in place the moment he saw her. He was wearing brown leather pants and a sleeveless black shirt, a sleeveless leather duster over it… and on his arm was his helix band, the one she had kept in a drawer in her room on the Dance.

Trembling with love and nerves, she smiled softly at him.

She wasn't sure which of them had moved first, but the next instant they were in each other's arms.

Telemachus pressed urgent but gentle kisses all over her face, and then he was murmuring apologies about Louisa and the way he had lived since waking up in the Seefra System. Alura added to the disjointed conversation with her own deep apologies for not having stayed with him in the first place, for making him forget what they'd had together.

"God, Alura, I'm never letting you out of my sight again," he growled. "What happened before doesn't matter. It's the past and it's going to stay that way. Just promise you'll never leave me again."

"I promise," Alura vowed for the second time, this time to her first husband. "I love you so much, Telemachus."

Telemachus groaned softly and kissed her again, running one hand through her hair while the other arm drew her as close to him as possible. "I love you, too."

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"I feel like anything is possible now," Telemachus whispered against her neck.

They were lying in bed in their old suite of rooms on the Andromeda that night after Alura had been reunited with everyone else. Telemachus was lying spooned against her back, his arm around her pregnant belly, her own arm on top of his, their fingers laced together.

"It is," Alura softly responded. "Together we'll help Dylan and Mom. And when all of us are safe and back in the universe where we belong, we'll have the life we should have had. You and me and the twins and Drago, together."

"Always," Telemachus vowed, the arm wrapped around her and their unborn children tightening infinitesimally.

**The End.**


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